I’ve had the stick for about 1 week and i have the same problem where a direction does not respond as many others have posted. kinda disappointed that i have to wait another 2 weeks to play again.
So after two weeks of having the standard edition stick in my possession, the RB button decided to crap out on me. Going to try and call Madcatz and see if they can get it repaired… I planned on just ordering a new set of Sanwa buttons and a stick but I didn’t plan on it dying out so soon.
i have 2 ps3’s no problems here
I just got a new SE stick and can feel it sticking on the left movements on the odd occassion. I’m worried it will only get worse so would like to fix the problem myself. Does the washer fix really work?
I opened the stick up and according to the blog posted earlier it should like this on the insides:
Whereas my USB cable actually connects to the top part of the insides. There’s also some kind of glue or stuff which connects the connectors to each other. Is it ok to break these connections as I can’t remove the connectors without breaking the substance.
<edit> scrap all that i just went ahead and removed the gunk and am wondering how I should get the stick detached from the actual casing. All screws and connectors are gone but the ball won’t fit through the hole lol!
ok so if the pcb on the joystick goes out will i have to buy a new pcb or could i jus buy the jlf stick and it comes with a pcb cuz im still tryin to wrap my head around this whole custom joystick concept
This has been gone over quite a bit.
The washer fix really does work, by keeping the washer glued down, it won’t scratch the PCB. If you have already scratched your PCB past the point of repair, you will need to buy a new Joystick, that comes with a new PCB.
First try and align and glue the washer, if you still can move in a certain direction, chances are your PCB is damaged.
Just buy a new joystick and you will get a new PCB and your problems will be gone. I’m using my SE with the washer glued down the minute I took it out of the box and it works great. I am antsy to get my sanwa parts though to compare the difference.
So how common is the button sticking issue compared to the faulty stick issue? If the button sticking issue is too frequent for my tastes then I’m going full seimitsu, if not then I’ll just keep playing with the stock buttons for a while.
these guys dont even answer… my SE fight stick has a button thats not responsive… kind of annoying
The washer fix worked well for me. I also covered the pcb with some small pieces of electricians tape just in case.
The 360 version has a headphone out pcb that the usb cable attatches to, but the PS3 one doesn’t have that. You’ll see the 4 supports it’s supposed to screw on to, and the little patch for the hole on the outside of the case.
You do not need to remove the stick from the case at all, but it may make job a little easier. Either way, you’ll need to use a flat screwdriver on the bottom of the stick shaft to hold it in place and screw off the ball top.
I called MadCatz today and Nerdraged on the guy who answered the phone in an attempt to get a thorough explanation of the problem.
He claims that the washer was installed “upside down” in “very few” (<-- yea right) sticks. One side of the washer is rough w/ rivets, the other side is smooth. Can any of you who’ve removed the washer confirm this? Smooth or rough, I doubt a peice of metal rubbing against the pcb can be all that well for it.
I know I’m also wondering about this. I’m gonna rock the stock buttons for a while for lack of funds. I have enough actually, but I just spent money on the JLF. I’d rather not spend more. Not yet anyway. My buttons work fine, but I’ve only had the FightStick for a week and half maybe.
Once you get the joystick out of the case, remove the restrictor and remove the pcb (it just pulls off), you’ll see the metal washer at the base of the joystick. The washer sits flush in a circular hole and has the stick shaft going through it, but when you push the joystick to the sides, you can see the washer popping up. Imagine pushing a tree over to the left, and seeing the roots pop up of the ground on the right. Here, the “roots” are supposed to stay in the ground.
I just pushed the joystick to one side, squirted a drop of super glue under the side of the washer that popped up, pushed the joystick to the other side, squirted another drop, and then wiped off the excess. The washer now sits in the hole, and doesn’t pop up when the joystick is pushed. The scratching happens when that washer pops all the way out of the hole, and starts sliding around above the hole - grinding the pcb that sits above it.
I bring nothing new to the table.
Standard sticks are being found in the wild again. New shipments, I guess.
I grabbed one last night, fully intending to slap a new set of hardware in there.
Decided to give it a testing, and see what was up with it, in the meanwhile.
Took less than three hours for the joysticks switches to stick, and the buttons to stop functioning.
Stick is currently stuck (heh) in the back/up position.
A (LK) is stuck.
RT(HK) is stuck.
Nothing less than phenomenal quality and the item working as expected, from Mad Catz.
No one saw this coming, huh?
Excellent, tried and true, fantastic workmanship, and attention to detail. 
(still, any displeasure from the SE stick can be stomached. 80 is still a decent price to not have to gut a 360 controller for its pcb, build a housing, do some soldering, and build one entirely from scratch.
Mind you, another 60+ in parts to complete the job is required, but eh… what can you expect. )
I was going to buy this until I saw all the problems being reported, now I’m on the fence. I have never modded a stick before but having going over many threads it seems simple enough. Buying this may be a good starting point for me.
It’s a shame too, I can’t find another stick with eight face buttons for the same price.
yup i can confirm that - mine was upside down and the rough part’s the one touching the pcb.
next trip in there i will try to remove the washer just that the e-clip is a fugging bane to contend with
This shit shouldn’t be happening, but for those who are saying they don’t know how to swap out parts… cmon its not rocket science.
On that note i saw this thread and built my own stick instead of buying one of these.
Okay guys I’ve had my SE stick for about a week now, at first it started sticking like everyone elses but then it stopped and I thought I was good… until today when my left just stopped working.
popped it open and found that my washer was grinding the hell out of my PCB as well, glued it down and had to solder the broken connection and its all working now.
So just a word of warning, I doubt anyone who has an early batch is safe - mine never got stuck after i “worked” it in a bit and yet it was still grinding itself to death!
Just received two SE sticks for 360 in the mail today. One has functioned fine so far, however it the “sticking” problem was noticeable on the second stick almost immediately. After less than an hour of playing, the Xbox would stop recognizing the second stick as being plugged in at random; the lights on it would flash on and off as if I was unplugging it and plugging it back in. After this problem first occurred, it seemed to rapidly increase in severity, and at this point it will only receive power form the box for 2-3 seconds after plugging it in (the lights will turn on during this period of time, then will turn off and stay off), which is replicated every time I unplug it and plug it back in. Took it apart and didn’t see anything that indicated a problem, likewise the other stick works perfectly fine in the same port that this one was plugged into. Any ideas as to what the source of the problem might be?
So anyone have the SE without problems or is it just a myth? Can’t believe Madcatz didn’t test the hell out of their sticks before oking it. I ordered two 360 sticks from play-asia and looks like they got delayed. I’ll have to mod but my concern is the stick not being recognised by the 360 like Elle’s problem.
Well, got my two sticks in just wednesday and one is already broken. It doesn’t register down-left or down-right. I’m going to MOD my sticks, so i opened one up and the problem was what everyone else was exactly saying. A loose washer fukked my pcb up and it is scratched to hell. My other stick is doing okay, but I can feel it scratching the board as well and the medium punch button doesn’t respond unless you hit it hard enough…
My recommendation is only to get this ONLY and ONLY IF you plan to updgrade the parts. Essentially you’re getting TE quality for 20-30 cheaper, but you’ve gotta do the work yourself. It’s like saving money on changing your own oil, but you’ve gotta get a lil dirty for it. Up to you. There’s plenty of great post that show you how to change the parts and any idiot like myself can do it, it’ll be my first time, but from already taking apart my stick I see that it’s a simple plug and play fix. No soldering (spelling?) or anything fancy needed.
Good luck to anyone that does this. It’s worth it as far as money goes…but if money ain’t a big thing i’d go with the TE.